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Children, Schools and Families Bill

My Lords, I rise with great regret to say that I will do something that I have never done in the 13 years of the Labour Government: I shall be going into the Lobby with the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. I have never felt such distress, anger and frustration as I felt this morning when I discovered what was going to happen in respect of the Bill. People have fought for 20-odd years to get this on to the statute book. To suddenly discover at the last moment that it will be removed because it is the wish of the Conservative Opposition I find absolutely distressing. I do not blame my Government—I say that most sincerely—because that is the nature of the wash-up. My Government produced and fought for the legislation. It may be a little late, but we proposed it for the statute book. To find it removed in this way I find unbelievable. As I said, I shall do that with the greatest regret. I cannot express how I feel about it. Deleting the clauses will mean that young people will grow up without the proper support that they desperately need to deal with relationships, bullying, abuse and to equip themselves with the skills to manage their lives. That is now being denied them. I take the point that we need more and better trained teachers, but it worries me that withdrawing the clauses will deter people from training. If it is not statutory, people will say, "Why should we go through the training process?". I fundamentally disagree that we need to get the teachers before the statute; we need it on the statute book and then make sure that we have the teachers. The noble Lord is absolutely right: we need properly trained teachers. That is true. In the words of the PSHE Association: "This appears to be a tragic betrayal of children. Politicians had made a commitment to education that promotes the safety, health and well-being of our nation's young people and I cannot believe that they intend to reverse it"." We are denying young people. It is they who have campaigned for access to high-quality PSHE education. After considerable discussion, we had arrived at a consensus of support from parents, teachers and schools, but principally it is young people who have demanded and insisted on the changes. Many children and young people say that the information that they receive at school about sex and relationships is too little, too late and too biological. As was referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, a survey of more than 20,000 young people carried out by the Youth Parliament found that 40 per cent of young people aged 11 to 18 thought that SRE in schools was either poor or very poor. That is not good enough. Sixty-one per cent of boys and 70 per cent of girls aged over 17 reported not receiving any information at school about personal relationships. That is what we are talking about: people being nice to people. That is what we want to ensure that our young people are trained to do. Removing these clauses makes sure that schools are not able to do that. More than 43 per cent of young people surveyed said that they had not been taught about those important personal relationships. Those children are being let down again after the Government had accepted the need to make PSHE and SRE statutory. Children have the right to learn how to stay safe and to be healthy in these challenging times. They have the right to learn how to manage their lives and their money. They have the right to learn about how to avoid drug and alcohol misuse, about safe sex and about public health. Not to provide them with that opportunity will continue to cost not only them as individuals but also their families and the nation as a whole a great deal. A great responsibility is on us all to make sure that that does not happen. Parents play a crucial role in promoting positive sexual health, development, behaviour and attitudes among children and young people. I hope noble Lords are listening because 81 per cent of parents said that this should be taught in schools and were pleased that this provision was to be on the statute book. There has been a broad consensus among those young children, parents and professionals that the Government had got it right. It may have taken a little time to get there, but we did get there. The value to young people is reiterated in the recent government consultation on the reduction of teenage pregnancy rates, making it clear that the inclusion of these clauses in the Bill was essential in bringing about a further reduction in teenage pregnancy. Somehow or other, that seemed to have been forgotten when the discussions were being held with the Opposition. I regret that the legislation was not forthcoming earlier. I nevertheless appreciate that the Government were persuaded and it is a tragedy that, at this late stage, at the behest of the Conservative Opposition, it is being withdrawn. It is not only a tragedy for those young people who will lose out, but it is a cause of great distress to all those who have campaigned vigorously for so many years. I can only say to noble Lords opposite that there were people on the telephone to me this morning in tears because they had campaigned so long and so vigorously for something that they fundamentally believed in and it was being taken away from them at this last moment in this strange way. I shall vote against the withdrawal of these clauses, but I do not see it as a vote against my Government, but as a vote for my Government’s original policies, which I absolutely and fundamentally support.